Williams was 23-40 in his two seasons as the head coach of the Tigers but they struggled this season, losing their first 10 games of the season before finishing 5-25 overall. At one point, Tennessee State was 2-21 this season and they didn’t defeat a Division I opponent in the non-conference portion of the schedule despite senior guard Patrick Miller being the nation’s fourth leading scorer at 23.2 points per game.

“We thank Coach Williams for his hard work both as an assistant and as a head coach, and we wish him the best in all future endeavors,” Tennessee State athletic director Teresa Phillips said in the release. “We want to move in a different direction and believe that this decision is in the best interest of Tennessee State and our Men’s Basketball program.”

Williams also served as an assistant coach for previous Tennessee State head coach John Cooper from 2009 through 2012.